
Glass. 
Book. 







TRENTON FALLS 



THE brief description, which, at the solicitation of my oeigh- 
feors, i gave, last year, of the cataract or West Canada Creek, in the 
tiawn of Trenton, county of Oneida and state of New York, in order 
to bring to the notice of the corarannity an exhibition of natures 
Combining a varitty of the beautiful, magnificent and sublime, pro- 
duced the effect that was contemplated. The printers gave it cur^ 
rency not only in this, but in other states of the Union. To many 
it seemed unaccountable, that a scene, so magnificent as was re- 
presented, should not have been regularly published before ;^aud 
the inference was, that it must certainly be an imposition, or at least 
highly exaggerated. To ridicule my notice, three or fiur pu'ilica- 
tions, Hy anonymous writers, made their appearance, displaying aa 
ingenuity and wit not less aniu«ing to me than to themstlves ; at 
the same time bearing on their countenance *• confirmation strong 
as holy wnt," that they had never seen the wonderful Falls, and 
of coDsequence were fortunately insensible, that their intended ri- 
dicule was without a point. From such attacks, as I ran receive 
ao hirra, I take no exceptions. When these same gentlemen once 
visit the falls, they will readily perceive, that a reply on my part 
was altogether superfluous. 

On the other hand, multitudes from the neighboring toTfas and 
numerous travellers from distant parts resolved to ascertain the fact 
lor themselves ; and, during the whole season, the sides of the ca= 
taract were crowded by visitors cf all descriptions. On one day, 
ill particular, there were at the falls twenty-six carriages, wagl 
gons and coaches, besides many pedestrians. All were disappoint^ 
ed—all must necessarily be disappointed, whose intellects are not 
paralized and whose bosoms are not apathy ; because no descrip- 
ition, which it is in the power of eloquence to put on paper, can 
convey those sensations to the mind, which the scenery itself inspires. 
This is the exclusive prerogative o( nature ; and, at these falls, she 
displays h r mjiuence, as she displays her power. So far as I have 
been able to collect their suffrages, evei^ intellig^-nt mind was grati- 
fied in a high degree, while some were even fil ed with a raplure^, 
to be expressed only by exclamations. Unfortunate, however, lor a 
few, they had not presence of mind to piss round an overhanging 
projection at the ectraiice, where a tremendous rapsa roars and ragef 









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directly undenieath. Unfortunate, also, for those who contented 
themselves with only passing on the high bank above. Such have 
gone away without any just impression of the curiosity, grandeur 
2.ud maje.^ty of the scene, and cannot be said to have visited the falls 
—comparatively speaking, they have seen nothing. 

For additional information, I submit to the public the following 
more minute and plain statement concerning these falls. 

As the road runs, they are two and a half miles east of the vil- 
Bage of Oldenbarneveld. The deep bed of rock, through which the 
cret k has for several miles cut its course, terminates at Coonratt's 
mill. Back of this, about sixty rods above, is a grove on the west 
bank, where the descent is now rendered easy and safe by five pair 
of stair<! with railings. The distance down is a hundred and 
twenty feet, and the landing is on smooth lime stone by the side 
of the stream. On the right and left of this subterraneous station, 
the visitor is enclosed by mountainous walls that threaten the 
skies. 

Hinc atque hinc vastac rupes, gemininq ; minantur 
In ccElum scopuii; 

At his side rushes, with irresistible impetuosity, the mad foaming 
torrent. Over head is the blue ethereal zone, one hundred yards in 
■width, narrowed by the lofty hemlock and other evergieeus, which 
bend from above. Under foot, are distinct and unquestionable pe- 
trifactions of various animals, in all probability as ancient as Noah's 
floof', or even the Mosaic organization oi' our earth, now disclosed 
to our view by the attrition of the waters upon the rock from time 
immemorial. Among these, is a species of fish, nowhere that I know 
of to be found in existence, and which to me is known, like the 
]VIamm.)th, only by it*- lifeless remains. Its tail, in the largest spe- 
cimens, is three feet long, two inches wide at the body, and one inch 
at its termination, where it is surrounded by a webbing similar to 
the eel. Two inches higher up, are regular ^ns correspond* nt on 
each side. Twelve inches above these is another set, and a third at 
its junction with the body. The head, though not distinctly marked 
in other respects, is flat and semicircular. Its body is from twelve 
to eighteen inches in length ; from four to five inches wide, and 
three or four inches thick, the form of which is elliptical. lis color 
is of a bluish cast, different from the rock in which it lies bedded. 

Angle worms are nnmerons, perfectly marked throughout, in vari- 
ous postures, some «tretched at full length, of a splendid whiteness, 
and pointed at both ends as in real life. There is one animal which 
i-aries greatly in size, and found in vast aumbers togettier. It h 



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no firs. It is regularly curved, with circular creases like the hoof 
of a grub, and terminates couicaliy Where the 'Water h is worn i' 
half down, it exhibits within, a crystaline substance, of the forra of 
a fish's bladder, v^^hich, in some, is hollow ; and attached to which 
is another substance exactly the color of spawn. But it has no dis- 
tinct marks of a head, the largest end rounding off like a man's 
thumb Another animal has thp form of a snake, about half an inch 
in diameter throughout, and apparently p-trified while in motion. 
It is fourteen inches long. There is another petrifaction, exactly re° 
sembling the curved cap of a toadstool, its internal texture precise- 
ly the same, which varies from half an inch to two inches in diam- 
eter at the base. Another petrifaction exhibits the smooth, curved 
and polished surface of the interior of a large clam shell, which it 
very much resembles in form, but its color is a glossy jet black. — 
Fifteen years ago, I took from these rocks a perfectly formed clam, 
more than one hundred feet below the common surface, both shells 
entire, of their natural color, and filled with harbor mud. Last 
summer, I extracted from the middle of a very solid slab of rock a 
sub'tance, which must have been an eye tooth or tusk of some 
ver} Urge animal. It is perfectfy round and conical, and as smooth 
as though turned by a lathe ; its point worn off by the water ; white, 
where fully exposed to the air ; gradually converting to the sable 
color of the rock that enclosed it. In blasting, to render the 
passage of a projection more safe, there was thrown out a part of aia 
animal, terminating at each side with six long pointed nails or claws, 
contracted to a focus, the whole very nicely marked, perfectly dis- 
tinct, and smoothly polished. In a part of a fish broken in the mid- 
dle, is plainly to be seen the back bone of its usual whiteness, and 
perforated in the centre by the pith or marrow. Indeed these rocks 
abound with petrifactions more numerous and various than in any 
other place of which we have an account ; many of which are non 
descripts. I subjoin a list of such as I have myself extracted and 
discovered — viz. 

} 1 . Large and small sea-shells ; common to all limestone — 2. An- 
gleworms ; lying in all directions, of different sizes, some of which 
are much longer and larger than any I have ever seen alive. 3. Nee° 
dlethread-rvorm. I thus name it, because it is very long, and through- 
out of the size of coarse thread — 4. A short worm, a!)out an inch 
long; very sharp pointed at both ends— 5. Large gruh-worm-^. The 
large miliar; with both wings extended, found in the center of the 
most solid strata — 7. Leech, or bloodsucker — 8. Sriake — 9. EeZ— 
la. The Cone. I <hus name it from its shape. It is found from foup 
to eight inches in length, and from a quartejf of an inch to an jnch 



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m diameter at the largest end, which is convex. In the middle of 
one of these animals I found, on breaking it, a perfect S7\ail, com- 
pletely j)efrr^ed, smooth as glass and black as jet — II. The large 
round dam — 12. The small round dam — 13. The mushroom or toad- 
stool; so named from its external and internal resemblance of this 
plant — 14 Tush or tooth; already^ described-rrl5. The douhlehead. 
This most singular nondescript is about eight inches in length, three 
inches wide, and two inches thick, with a head at each end. which 
bears an ©xact likeness to the head of the largest size bullfrog — 16. 
The large long- tailed Jish, already described, one species of vfhich is 
ascertained to be a male. 

Besides these I have discovered several other evident petrifactions: 
but, having been unable to extract them entire, no satisfactory de- 
scription can be giveilofthem at present. 

1 would remark, under this head, that the examples quoted are 
Tery numerous in each class ; occur continually fromCoonratt's mill 
to Boon's bridge, about three miles ; and are found in several differ- 
ent strata from the highest to the lowest, i. e. three or four hundred 
perpendicular feet apart. 

Here is a wide field for geological speculation. These strata are, 
Id generil, perfecily horizontal; as regular and uniform as mason 
work; the layers varying from tw'o to eight inches in thickness, be- 
tween which is a b'ack eement Kke mortar, that crumbles on expo- 
sure to atmosphtric air. At the high falls, where the mass of rock 
is cut down a hunt red and fifty feet, the number of these horizontal 
lafers must be four or five hundred. But to this position of the lay- 
ers, there is, here and there, an exception. A large mass, composed 
of several strata, will be inverted, interrupting the general order, 
the layers of this intervening mass being, in some instances, exactly 
perpendicular, diverging in others like the radii of a semicircle, un- 
til they coincide with the horizontal diameter. There are also strait 
Sines of silex about one eighth of an inch thick, which intersect the 
rock from top to bottom, running diagonally across the creek, and 
at other- extend in a sheet horizontally bpfween two solid and com- 
pact straia. What geological system will solve these several pheno- 
meua ? How account for the fact, that these various classes of pe- 
trifac ions are found prfcisely the same in the different tiers of strata, 
ithrough a perpendicular distance of three or four hundred iVet ? 
To what cause is to be imputed the anomalous inversion ? What 
general prim iple wijl harmonize tWe doctrine of strata, with the in- 
tersection of silicious lines? And, at the same time, reconcil*' the 
perptDuici.larity of the one with the horizontal direction of the 
other? Let the geologist examine and answer. 



After viewins the petrifaction?, which meet ns at every step, we 
pass round a fri^htfn! projection (now rendered perfirctly sate) and 
avivance towards the first or lower falls. Here a perpendicular 
breast work of naked rock, nearly forty feet high, extends entirely 
across the opening, apparently blocking up the passage. When the 
creek is high, the waters pour over in a single sheet from side to side. 
Bat when low, the wJiole body takes s^ tarn and discharges itself on 
the left with the noise of thimder, reverberating from the perpen- 
dicular sides of a vast concavity, formed hy the torrent at the 
extremitf of the breast work, the whole distance down, where the 
dashing foam creates a strong current of wind, that envelopes the 
visitor in its mist. To the left of this, we ascend under a yawning 
mountain, whose expanded jaws threaten immediate death. Driven 
by the concavity and the rushing stream into the throat of this yawn- 
ing, the visitor is compelled literally to bow down his head in hom- 
age to the scene around. Yes, here the proudest nabob must bow 
to nature, as the sine qua non of admission to her Chef rf' oeuvre be- 
yond. This service performed, there opens upon us a wide and 
beautiful expansion of flat rock, where we are suddenly transported 
with a-full view of the high falls 50 rods in front. The eye, eleva- 
ted at an angle of 45 degrees, beholds a rock 80 fet t high extend- 
ing, in^a strait line, from the mountainous walls on each side, which 
rise 70 feet still higher. Over this the water descends perpendi- 
cularly, between 30 and 40 feet, the great body rushing to the left. 
On the right, it pours down in a thin, beautiful sheet. Ftr a short 
distance in the middle, the rock is left entirely naked, exhibiting a 
perpendicular battlement of mason work, as though reared by art 
to divide the beautiful white sheet on the one side, from the over- 
whelming fury of the waters on the other. On a small flat below, 
they unite ; then, in a vast body of tumultuous foam, veer suddenly 
down an inclination of rocky steps, whence the whole river is pre- 
cipitated at once into a wide, deep, and dark bason of water, 40 feet 
un ;erueath; mountainous walls rising on either sid^ 150 feet; tall 
hemlocks and bending cedars extending their branches above ; small 
shrubbery variegating, here and there, their stupendous and naked 
sid» s ; and, on the right of the bason, a charming verdure entirely 
overspreads a wide, smoothly rounding and maj<>stic prominence, 
which reaches half way up the towering battlement. Such are the 
High Falls. 

At the si''e of these superb falls we ascend a tall ladder, pass thro' 
a narrow defile. Walk up a flight of steps, and land on a platform at 
the foot of the first perpendicular descent ; then climbing along the 
side, we mount, by another ladder, the grand level at the top, where 



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ivhe stream retires to the rijrht and opens a wide smooth pavement 
lor the large party to walk abreast. Here is presented, thirty or 
forty rods in front, another fail, stretching a broad sheet of water 
across the wnole distance of this beautiful level. Ascending this, we 
are introduced to another still more smooth and extensive platform 
of level ro. k 20 rods wide and f rods in length, lined on either side 
with cedars, whose branches all crowd forward under their bending 
heatls, and whose backs are as naked as the perpendicular rocky bat- 
tlements conctaled behind them. At the extremity of this is one 
of the most interesting scenes that can be imagined. A naked rock, 
50 feet high, reaches over its shelving top, from wiiich descends a 
perpetual rill, that forms a natural shower bath. On the verge of this 
threatening projection stands a tall cedar, whose branches gradually 
lengthen and reach far down over the bending rock with an impen- 
etrable shade of the deepest verdure. On the left is a delightful 
cascade, where the water pcurs over therocks in all directions, com- 
bining the gentle fall arid the fuiious rapid. Through this narrow 
aperture the eye beholds mountainous walls retiring in various phan- 
tastic forms. Directly opposite is a huge breastwork of pftipendicu- 
lar rock, at whose base the raging waters become still. Annexed to 
this is a lofty tower rising in a vast column at its side and comman 1- 
ing with majesty the scenery around. At the foot of the spectator 
is a dark he^siii of water 4(> feet tleep, resting from its labors in the 
raging rapid above, and relieved by collections of whitest foam. 
Thence the whole river descends gently down the charming plain, 
until it disappears amidst evergreens as it passes over the falls be- 
low. 

A succession of furious rapids, of gentle cascades, of b'«ld pro- 
minences, of lofty towers, of overhanging mountains and retiring 
amphitheatres form the scenery beyond, as far as Boon's bridge, 
which is three miles from the foot of the stairs, where the scenery 
commences. This fact, I find, is almost uni^'^rsally overlooked, 
even by those who have read my description in the newspapers; so 
that, with very few exceptions, visitors expect to see the whole at a 
single view and from one station. No : the interesting scenery at 
Trenton consists of a combination of views differing continually, 
where the visitor must travel three mileSy under mountainous walls 
and more than one hundred feet belo!V the surface of the earth, if he 
would witness the whole. Let it then be remembered, that there are 
several di tipct falls, neither of which is within sight of the other-— 
that the falls themselves, however interesting, are but one pz^rt of 
the grand exhibition— that the visitor continually travels on,, saluted , 
with novelty at every step— and that, in order to take evea a curse- 



ry view, he must employ at least three hours, even should he pa§& 
I no farther than a quarter of a mile beyond the extremity of the plain 
I have just mentioned. Here, at what is commonly denominated 
the potash kettle xnd the rocky heart, it is usual to stop, as the pas- 
sage beyond this is attended with some danger, and the scenery with- 
in the last eighty rods is characteristic of what follows : — 

That I should compaFe,in my first GJjescriptron, the exhibition here, 
with the grand Falls of Niagara, was deemed, by some who were 
strangers to it, superlative extravaa;ance. -In the vast quantity of 
water, in the depth of precipitous descent, in the tremendous raging 
of foam, and appalling shock of impression, it is far exceeded, I 
readily own, by that wonderful cataract; But such is its divers ity^, 
curiosity, beauty, grandeur, magnificence and extent, combined with 
its petrifactions, I am compelled to pronounce, with many who have 
witnessed both, that the scenery at Trenton is the most, interesting — 
The public, however, will judge for itself — the question will soon be 
decided. . 

The best time to visit the falls is when the water is low and ad- 
mits of a dry and pleasant walk at the side of the stream. The cr^^k 
is very much rai^ied by Jong or heavy rains. It becomes a furious 
overwhelming torrent in this case, which allows no footstep to the 
visitor and does not subside under several days. In general it may 
be visited dm-ing the months of May, June, July, August and Sep*- 
tember, and, when we have a dry auttmS^ in October. - ^ i 

Finally, in reply to a very serious objection, which naturally arises 
in the minds of strangers, viz : " Ho^v is it possibh that a scenery so 
shigular and so interesting should not have been formally announced 
to the public brfore!"— the an>wer is, that tho' it has been known 
to some more than twenty years, yet, until lately, it has been inac- 
cessible. I hav^e myself known it for sixteen years and often visited 
it with my friends. But we had to pass through two miles of a path- 
less forest, to descent! a steep and frightful precipice, and to make 
our way round a most terrific and truly dangerous projection at the 
hazard of our lives. Now the forest is cleared away ; a road is 
opened; carriages may drive to the bank ; the descent is by regular 
stairs ; and the difficult and dangerous passages are all rendered per° 
fectly easy and safe, to old and young, by blasting, chains and lad- 
ders- 

JOHN SHERMAN 

OMenbarneveld, Angast 5, 1822, 



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